Send the Gift of Lifelong Learning!

Scientific Secrets for a Powerful Memory

Gifting Information

Frequently Asked Questions

With an eGift, you can instantly send a Great Course to a friend or loved one via email. It's simple:

Find the course you would like to eGift.

Under “Choose a Format,” click on Video Download or Audio Download.

Click ‘Send e-Gift’

Fill out the details on the next page. You will need the email address of your friend or family member.

Proceed with the checkout process as usual.

Once you have paid for your order, your friend or loved one will receive an email letting them know that they have a gift waiting for them at TheGreatCourses.com. That gift will be added to their My Digital Library when they log in and click to redeem it.

Why do I need to specify the email of the recipient?

We will send that person an email to notify them of your gift.

If they are already a customer, they will be able to add the gift to their My Digital Library and mobile apps.

If they are not yet a customer, we will help them set up a new account so they can enjoy their course in their My Digital Library or via our free mobile apps.

How will my friend or family member know they have a gift?

They will receive an email from The Great Courses notifying them of your eGift. The email will direct them to TheGreatCourses.com.

What if my friend or family member does not receive the email?

If the email notification is missing, first check their Spam folder. Depending on your email provider, it may have mistakenly been flagged as spam. If it is not found, please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

How will I know they have received my eGift?

When the recipient clicks on their email and redeems their eGift, you will automatically receive an email notification.

I don’t want to send downloads. How do I gift DVDs or CDs?

eGifting only covers digital products. To purchase a DVD or CD version of a course and mail it to a friend, please call customer service at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

Oops! The recipient already owns the course I gifted. What now?

Great minds think alike! We can exchange the eGifted course for another course of equal value. Please call customer service at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

Can I select a date in the future to send my eGift?

Sorry, this feature is not available yet. We are working on adding it in the future.

What if the email associated with eGift is not for my regular Great Course account?

Please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call our customer service team at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance. They have the ability to update the email address.

When purchasing a gift for someone, why do I have to create an account?

This is done for two reasons. One is so you can track the purchase of the order in your ‘order history’ section as well as being able to let our customer service team track your purchase and the person who received it if the need arises.

Can I return or Exchange a gift after I purchase it?

Because the gift is sent immediately, it cannot be returned or exchanged by the person giving the gift. The recipient can exchange the gift for another course of equal or lesser value, or pay the difference on a more expensive item

Frequently Asked Questions

With an eGift, you can instantly send a Great Course to a friend or loved one via email. It's simple:
1. Find the course you would like to eGift.
2. Under "Choose a Format", click on Video Download or Audio Download.
3. Click 'Send e-Gift'
4. Fill out the details on the next page. You will need to the email address of your friend or family member.
5. Proceed with the checkout process as usual.

Q: Why do I need to specify the email of the recipient?

A:
We will send that person an email to notify them of your gift. If they are already a customer, they will be able to add the gift to their My Digital Library and mobile apps. If they are not yet a customer, we will help them set up a new account so they can enjoy their course in their My Digital Library or via our free mobile apps.

Q: How will my friend or family member know they have a gift?

A:
They will receive an email from The Great Courses notifying them of your eGift. The email will direct them to TheGreatCourses.com. If they are already a customer, they will be able to add the gift to their My Digital Library and mobile apps. If they are not yet a customer, we will help them set up a new account so they can enjoy their course in their My Digital Library or via our free mobile apps.

Q: What if my friend or family member does not receive the email?

A:
If the email notification is missing, first check your Spam folder. Depending on your email provider, it may have mistakenly been flagged as spam. If it is not found, please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

Q: How will I know they have received my eGift?

A:
When the recipient clicks on their email and redeems their eGift, you will automatically receive an email notification.

Q: What if I do not receive the notification that the eGift has been redeemed?

A:
If the email notification is missing, first check your Spam folder. Depending on your email provider, it may have mistakenly been flagged as spam. If it is not found, please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call customer service at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

Q: I don't want to send downloads. How do I gift DVDs or CDs?

A:
eGifting only covers digital products. To purchase a DVD or CD version of a course and mail it to a friend, please call customer service at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

Q: Oops! The recipient already owns the course I gifted. What now?

A:
Great minds think alike! We can exchange the eGifted course for another course of equal value. Please call customer service at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

Q: Can I update or change my email address?

A:
Yes, you can. Go to My Account to change your email address.

Q: Can I select a date in the future to send my eGift?

A:
Sorry, this feature is not available yet. We are working on adding it in the future.

Q: What if the email associated with eGift is not for my regular Great Course account?

A:
Please please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call our customer service team at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance. They have the ability to update the email address so you can put in your correct account.

Q: When purchasing a gift for someone, why do I have to create an account?

A:
This is done for two reasons. One is so you can track the purchase of the order in your ‘order history’ section as well as being able to let our customer service team track your purchase and the person who received it if the need arises.

Q: Can I return or Exchange a gift after I purchase it?

A:
Because the gift is sent immediately, it cannot be returned or exchanged by the person giving the gift. The recipient can exchange the gift for another course of equal or lesser value, or pay the difference on a more expensive item

What are priority codes?

Priority Codes are on the back of the catalog, mail promotion, or within an advertisement. To ensure that the pricing on the website is the same as what is in your catalog or advertisement, please enter the priority code provided.

What are priority codes?

Priority Codes are on the back of the catalog, mail promotion, or within an advertisement. To ensure that the pricing on the website is the same as what is in your catalog or advertisement, please enter the priority code provided.

Course Overview

What was the name of your first pet? Where did you put your house keys? How do you get to work every morning? Most likely, you didn't need to look up the answers to these questions. You remembered them. Memory is, without a doubt, the most powerful (and practical) tool of everyday life. By linking both your past and your future, memory gives you the power to plan, to reason, to perceive, and to understand. As long as thinking and insight are important in how we live our lives, memory will be critical as well. And the better your memory, the more information you'll have at your immediate disposal and the better your thinking will be.

Yet while all of us have an amazing capacity for memory, there are plenty of times when it seems to fail us. Why does this happen? And how can you fix it?

According to award-winning Professor Peter M. Vishton of The College of William & Mary, an engaging cognitive scientist who has spent decades studying the secrets of human memory, the problem is simple. "Our brains were not really built for the types of memory challenges we give them in classrooms, offices, and throughout our daily lives,"he says. "So the central trick to enhancing the power of your memory is to transform things that are hard to remember into things that are easier for your brain to encode and later recall.”

This insight lies at the heart of his captivating course Scientific Secrets for a Powerful Memory. In just six engaging and interactive lectures, you'll explore the real research (not the fads) on how memory functions—and then apply these findings to help you make better use of the memory abilities you have. By tapping into a series of scientifically proven strategies, tricks, and techniques, and by practicing them through dynamic exercises led by Professor Vishton, you'll emerge from the end of this short course with the ability to process information more effectively and to increase your chance of remembering almost anything you want.

Discover How Remarkable Memory Is

Throughout this course, Professor Vishton continually focuses on just how remarkable memory is—and how easily it can be strengthened, enhanced, and improved at any age.

"We may have trouble remembering phone numbers, names, where we left our keys, or facts for an exam,"he says. "All of these failings, however, are not due to limitations of your brain to encode and store information. We all have this capacity, and to a remarkable level!”

The most important way to improve your memory performance and to remember information accurately and for a long time, according to Professor Vishton, is to transform that information into something that's easier for your brain to remember and use, like a distinct visual image or a simple string of letters. Essentially all of the techniques you learn about in Scientific Secrets for a Powerful Memory center on this single goal.

Build Your Mental Tool Kit

So what are some of the powerful skills you'll be able to add to your mental tool kit? Throughout these lectures, you'll learn about a range of methods and techniques designed to boost your memory's powers.

The Major System: How can you convert hard-to-remember numbers (such as birthdays, identification numbers, or parking lot zones) into easy-to-remember images? Developed in 1648, the Major System assigns a particular phonetic consonant sound to the digits 0 through 9. When you intersperse vowels and other non-Major consonants, you can make words of items that you can easily imagine.

The Method of Loci: Credited to the Greek poet Simonides, the Method of Loci is one of the simplest and most effective tricks for memorizing information. If you can tie the information—whether it's a shopping list or the names of the last 15 U.S. presidents—to known, physical locations, then your memory for it will be dramatically improved compared with simply attempting to recall the information off the top of your head.

Chunking: Studies have shown that people can hold about seven meaningful, self-coherent items (such as letters or entire sentences) in their short-term memory (known as "chunks”). From this perspective, these seven storage locations can actually hold a nearly unlimited number of things. All you have to do is learn to pack more information into each of these seven chunks using the other strategies explored in the course.

And those are only a few of the insights you'll find. You'll also get tips on everything from how best to study for an exam to proven ways for transferring information from your short-term to your long-term memory.

Unlock Your Memory's Untapped Potential

"I've long been fascinated with human cognition and the brain,"notes Professor Vishton, named one of the best 300 professors in America by The Princeton Review. "And since the beginning of my time studying psychology, I've also been interested in memory.”

His amazement at the strength and capabilities of human memory is one you'll most certainly be agreeing with as you learn from each of his expertly crafted lectures. With his wealth of experience both teaching and researching the mysteries of memory and the human mind, Professor Vishton offers you the model guide for improving your own everyday memory.

And to expand on your skills and put them to work, he's filled these six lectures with short exercises you can perform as you watch or listen. Pause the course and work on the examples or test your newfound skills at the end of each lecture; there are plenty of opportunities for you to practice what you've learned.

We've all long held people with fantastic memories as somehow superhuman; but the truth is that anyone can be a memory whiz—provided they know the skills for doing so. And now Scientific Secrets for a Powerful Memory offers you the key to unlocking your memory's vast, untapped potential.

Hide Full Description

6 lectures

| Average 30 minutes each

1

Your Amazing Prehistoric Memory

Discover how remarkable your memory ability can be and get an introduction to some of the fascinating ways you can transform your average memory into an excellent one. After a quick memory test to set the stage, Professor Vishton introduces you to one of the most basic ways your memory can encode information: the Major System. With this strategy, you’ll learn how to encode numbers into words and then into distinct images that can help you recall the numerical information whenever you like. You’ll also explore the prehistoric roots of why we think the way we do. x

2

Encoding Information with Images

Focus on one of the simplest tricks for memorizing information: the Method of Loci. Like the Major System, this strategy encodes information into a format your brain is especially good at using; in this case, it ties information to a physical location. Gain familiarity with this method through several engaging exercises. Also, peek inside the mind of mental athletes to see how their seemingly superhuman feats of memory are rooted in nothing more than innate brain power we all have. x

3

Maximizing Short- and Long-Term Memory

In this insightful lecture, Professor Vishton walks you through the three steps of successful memory: a perception to short-term memory, encoding short-term memory to your long-term memory, and retrieving information from your long-term memory. In addition, you’ll explore how amnesia and other hippocampus-related damages can disrupt this normal memory process; you’ll examine some intriguing ways (such as “chunking”) to get around the limitations of your short-term memory; and much more. x

4

Why and When We Forget

Forgetting happens to the best of us—but it can be mitigated through the use of several key techniques. Among the topics you’ll investigate are the “Ebbinghaus forgetting function,” which offers insights into the relationship between time, amount of studying, and the likelihood of memory recall; the most effective way to remember a new set of information (hint: it doesn’t involve cramming); and how to access that pesky piece of information that’s “on the tip of your tongue.” x

5

Keeping Your Whole Brain in Peak Condition

To have a good memory that functions at the peak of its powers, you need to keep your entire brain healthy. Professor Vishton shows you how to do just that. You’ll learn how not just a part of your brain, but the entire organ, is involved in remembering things. You’ll also investigate the science behind studies of exercise, sleep, and nutrition—and the curious ways that a balanced diet, daily activity, and a good night’s sleep relate to optimal mental functioning. x

6

Human Memory Is Reconstruction, Not Replay

Why should you bother enhancing your memory when there are computers that can do it for you? In what ways is information stored on a computer different from information stored in the recesses of your brain? What are the limits of how memory functions? What are some important roles that technology can—and should—play in backing up our memories? Why are “source memories” and “flashbulb memories” so problematic, and how can you recognize them? Find the answers in this final lecture x

Lecture Titles

Clone Content from Your Professor tab

What's Included

What Does Each Format Include?

Video Download Includes:

Download 6 video lectures to your computer or mobile app

FREE video streaming of the course from our website and mobile apps

Soundtrack Download Includes:

Ability to download 6 audio lectures from your digital library

FREE audio streaming of the course from our website and mobile apps

DVD Includes:

6 lectures on 1 DVD

FREE video streaming of the course from our website and mobile apps

Enjoy This Course On-the-Go with Our Mobile Apps!*

iPhone + iPad

Android Devices

Kindle Fire Tablet + Firephone

*Courses can be streamed from anywhere you
have an internet connection. Standard carrier data rates may apply in areas that do not have wifi connections
pursuant to your carrier contract.

Your professor

About Your Professor

Peter M. Vishton, Ph.D.

The College of William & Mary

Dr. Peter M. Vishton is Associate Professor of Psychology at The College of William & Mary. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology and Cognitive Science from Cornell University. Before joining the faculty of William & Mary, he taught at Northwestern University and served as the program director for developmental and learning sciences at the National Science Foundation. A consulting editor for the journal Child Development,...

Reviews

Rated 4 out of
5 by
WickJam from
Short seriesThis course was easy to complete due to the short series of only six lectures of 30 minutes each.

Date published: 2019-02-13

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Lau 47 from
Love learningI have learned so much just in the first course. I bought three courses and I am so excited to learn more

Date published: 2019-02-12

Rated 3 out of
5 by
Claire de Lune from
So, so.There was not anything in that course that was not common knowledge.

Date published: 2018-11-15

Rated 5 out of
5 by
DoctorStep from
Great Memory Tools!The course was short, but highly effective, with several tools I could use immediately to help me remember everything from "where I put my keys" to the list and order of songs I'm singing in the Christmas program. The instructor had a very easy and personable presentation style that made it easy to follow the lessons and put them into practice.

Date published: 2018-11-06

Rated 3 out of
5 by
KatDragon from
Average CourseI found this course fairly underwhelming, although that may be because the target audience of the course seems to be people who feel that they have poor memories. (I would describe myself as someone with an average memory, but still wanted to improve it.) Some of the methods the professor described, such as the MAJOR system, seem only worth the time, complication, and effort that they require if you have substantial difficulties with remembering certain things. The professor does offer some helpful approaches to memory (such as his lists of memory tips, or suggestions on ways to remember people's names), but they could easily have fit into one lecture, rather than six.
I wouldn't recommend this course in audio--there are a couple of visual exercises performed in the lecture, and the lecturer doesn't offer any way for those of us listening on audio to follow along. I'm not entirely sure why this course was made available on audio in the first place.

Date published: 2018-05-23

Rated 4 out of
5 by
basnyder527 from
Wonderful insights, short course, no guidebook?!?This was an excellent and short overview of how the mind and memory work. I was dissapointed that I did not purchase the video version of this course since a good portion of the material depends on it. Moreover, I am extremely dissatisfied that there is no course book PDF to accompany the course. This shoudl be mandatory. In this particular instance, I am looking for the bibliography info on a memory researcher cited in the course and I will apparently have to listen to it again to find that information.

Date published: 2018-05-02

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Gaia from
Very informative!I really enjoyed this short course. It was an excellent introduction into how our brain works and how we remember things. I enjoyed this course so much that I also purchased 'Outsmart Yourself', which is written and taught by the same professor.

Date published: 2018-04-08

Rated 3 out of
5 by
david4w from
have not yet readI downloaded the file about a week ago but have not yet read it. Already I have received one or two emails daily from them despite unsubscribing and calling their phone line. Very annoying. Will likely return as I hate doing business with spammers.